Birthday Thoughts

Atticus is now officially one year old. It only took two visits to the hospital, thirty-six hours of labor, several thousand miles of travel (some of it by plane), three continents and two scrape/bump-leaving falls to get this far.

The party was simple. Local food and a cake. Presents and cards. No traditional white suit or stick. Maybe twenty-five people covering four nationalities. Atticus got banana cake with a taste of the chocolate one when mom left the room. After everyone left, some additional friends stopped by to break a loaf of bread on Atticus’ back to guarantee strong bones (maybe that’s what went wrong with mine). He was down for a nap three and a half hours after the festivities began.

I wonder how different it would have been in the States. It would have been hotter. There would probably only be one language used as people sat in their little groups. The cards would have been Hallmark. The toys would have been from Wal-Mart or Kaybee’s or Toys R Us. Nobody would have been concerned about which water was safe to drink but somebody might be concerned about the potato salad. Mostly it would have been the same except all of you would have been invited. Consider this your invitation for next year.